Dontnod Entertainment

Don't Nod Entertainment SARL
Dontnod Entertainment
Private
Industry Video game industry
Founded 2 June 2008 (2008-06-02)
Founders
  • Hervé Bonin
  • Aleksi Briclot
  • Alain Damasio
  • Oskar Guilbert
  • Jean-Maxime Moris
Headquarters Paris, France
Key people
 Oskar Guilbert (CEO)
Products
Number of employees
 120[1] (2016)
Website dont-nod.com

Don't Nod Entertainment SARL, doing business as Dontnod Entertainment (stylised as DONTИOD), is a French video game developer based in Paris, France. Since 2013, it has released the action-adventure Remember Me and the graphic adventure Life Is Strange.

History

Dontnod Entertainment was co-founded by Hervé Bonin, Aleksi Briclot, Alain Damasio, Oskar Guilbert and Jean-Maxime Moris on 2 June 2008 along with other ex-Criterion Games, Ubisoft and Electronic Arts staff.[2][3]

The first game the developers released was Remember Me, which received mediocre reviews and sales.[4] On 31 January 2014, French media outlets and gaming websites reported that Dontnod was filing for bankruptcy as a result of the poor sales of Remember Me. Dontnod responded to these reports explaining that the developer was in the process of "judicial reorganization".[5][6][7] The company turned to public funding to finance a new intellectual property called What If? as a result of this.[8]

On 5 June 2014, Dontnod announced that they were working on a new game with publisher Square Enix to be distributed digitally.[9] The game was later announced to be called Life Is Strange, and was released in 2015.[10] What If was revealed to be an early codename for the game.[11] As of November 2014, the studio has been working on a third title,[12] a role-playing game called Vampyr.[13] An unannounced project is reportedly also in development.[4]

Co-founder and CEO Oskar Guilbert said in April 2016 that the studio had cast off the ambition of making triple A games and currently see themselves only developing independent projects,[4] especially original intellectual properties.[14] The financial and commercial success of Life Is Strange marked a change in how the studio was perceived in the industry. Following its release, Dontnod started being solicited by publishers, where once they had to pursue publishers themselves.[15] For the sake of maintaining the motivation of players and publishers, Guilbert intends for the production cycle to be reduced to two and a half or three years.[16]

Games developed

Year Title Platform(s) Publisher(s)
Win Mac Lin PS3 PS4 X360 XONE
2013 Remember Me Yes No No Yes No Yes No Capcom
2015 Life Is Strange Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Square Enix
2017 Vampyr Yes No No No Yes No Yes Focus Home Interactive

References

  1. ↑ Handrahan, Matthew (18 October 2016). ""There are not as many questions. We have more freedom now"". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved 18 October 2016.
  2. ↑ Cook, Dave (14 August 2012). "Remember Me: Capcom announces new IP from Dontnod Entertainment". VG247. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  3. ↑ "Dontnod Entertainment Outlines its First Video Game on Console". IGN. 11 July 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2014.
  4. 1 2 3 Farokhmanesh, Megan (25 April 2016). "From Life is Strange to Vampyr: Dontnod's dark turn". Polygon. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  5. ↑ Rose, Mike. "Remember Me studio boss downplays bankruptcy reports". Gamesutra. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  6. ↑ "DONTNOD en redressement judiciaire" (in French). 31 January 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  7. ↑ Sinclair, Brendan (14 August 2014). "Hitting reset: Dontnod's new episode". Gamesindustry.biz. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  8. ↑ "Le prochain DONTNOD (Remember Me) nommé ? [MàJ]" (in French). Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  9. ↑ "Remember Me Developer Dontnod Creating New Game With Square Enix". IGN. 5 June 2014. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  10. ↑ Conditt, Jessica (14 August 2014). "Life is Strange: Ambiguous young love among leading ladies". Joystiq. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  11. ↑ "Square Enix's Life is Strange Considered 100 Different Names". GameSpot. Retrieved 31 March 2015.
  12. ↑ Hannley, Steve (28 November 2014). "Dontnod Entertainment Working on Unannounced PS4/Xbox One RPG". Hardcore Gamer. Retrieved 8 December 2014.
  13. ↑ Copeland, Wesley (20 January 2015). "Remember Me and Life Is Strange Dev Making RPG Vampyr". IGN. Retrieved 22 January 2015.
  14. ↑ Jarvis, Matthew (5 September 2016). "Dontnod CEO dismisses Telltale comparisons, reinforces commitment to original IP". Develop. Retrieved 5 September 2016.
  15. ↑ Dring, Christopher (19 August 2016). "'Publishers are now calling us' - How Life is Strange has transformed Dontnod". MCV. Retrieved 19 August 2016.
  16. ↑ Dring, Christopher (25 October 2016). "How Life is Strange changed Dontnod". MCV. Retrieved 25 October 2016.

External links

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